"Better not to attend": Borrell advises EU states on Putin's "inauguration"

Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has stated that he has advised EU countries not to send their representatives to the "inauguration" of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Borrell mentioned that after numerous discussions with the member states, he sent them all a message outlining his understanding that "the right thing to do is not to attend this ‘inauguration’". "My advice was not to do it and I think that most of the Member States will not attend," he said. 

Borrell recalled that the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for Putin, and that the elections in Russia were neither fair nor just. He said that it would be difficult for Ukrainians and many others around the world to understand why European representatives would be present at the "inauguration" in Moscow under these circumstances. 

"It would be a clear contradiction. My advice to the Member States was not to attend, and I hope that many of them, most of them, will follow this indication. But each Member State is fully sovereign to decide to go or not to go," added Borrell.

Radio Liberty reported that diplomats from France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Hungary and Slovakia will attend Putin's "inauguration".

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that it does not see any grounds for recognising Vladimir Putin, the head of the Kremlin, as the democratically elected and legitimate president of Russia.